Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T17:29:02.244Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Father as Witch

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2011

Elizabeth Colson
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In the 1990s the feared witch among Tonga-speakers of Gwembe Valley, Zambia, is often the father, whose adult children accuse him of using witchcraft to gain power over the child's life force to use in his enterprises. Suspicions of the father arise from changing family dynamics associated with restricted economic opportunities and a changing agricultural system involving cash cropping where family labour is of vital importance. Witchcraft fears, as elsewhere in Zambia, have become more salient as worsening economic conditions have led to general malaise and the loosening of restraints on public accusation. Feeling victimised and vulnerable in a world where transport minimises distance has led to witches being endowed with the power to operate without regard to distance. Nevertheless witchfinding deflects hostility from national political figures to elders in the neighbourhood, especially fathers, who are continuous sources of immediate frustration and are also vulnerable to local action.

Résumé

Dans les années 90, la sorcière que l'on craint au sein de la population de langue Tonga de la vallée du Gwembe, en Zambie, est souvent le père, que les enfants adultes accusent d'user de la sorcellerie pour manipuler leur force vitale à son profit. Les suspicions à l'egard du père résultent d'un changement de la dynamique familiale, à laquelle s'ajoutent des perspectives économiques limitées et une agriculture en pleine évolution impliquant des cultures commerciales pour lesquelles la main-d'oeuvre familiale est d'une importance vitale. Comme dans le reste de la Zambie, la peur de la sorcellerie est devenue plus frappante au fur et à mesure que la situation économique se dégradait, créant un malaise général et un laisser-aller quant aux accusations publiques. Le sentiment d'être persécuté et vulnérable dans un monde où les transports minimisent les distances fait doter les sorcières du pouvoir d'exercer leurs pouvoirs à des distances illimitées. Néanmoins, la chasse aux sorcières détoume l'hostilité des personnalites politiqués nationales pour la porter sur les anciens des communautés, notamment les pères, que sont une source permanente de frustration immédiate et sont vulnérables à l'action locale.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 70 , Issue 3 , August 2000 , pp. 333 - 358
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 2000

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anon. 1960. ‘Myth in modern Africa: a preliminary report on the fourteenth conference’, Rhodes-Livingstone Journal 21: 59–67.Google Scholar
Auslander, M. 1993. ‘“Open the wombs!” The symbolic politics of modern Ngoni witch finding’, in Comaroff, J. and Comaroff, J. (eds), Modernity and its Malcontents: ritual and power in postcolonial Africa, pp. 167–92. Chicago IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Auslander, M. 1997. Fertilizer has brought Poison: crises of reproduction in Ngoni society and history. Ann Arbor MI: UMI Microform.Google Scholar
Austen, R. 1993. ‘The moral economy of witchcraft: an essay in comparative history’, in Comaroff, J. and Comaroff, J. (eds.), Modernity and its Malcontents: ritual and power in postcohnial Africa, pp. 89–110. Chicago IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Caplan, L. 1995. ‘Certain knowledge: the encounter of global fundamentalism and local Christianity in urban south India’, in James, W. (ed.), The Pursuit of Certainty, pp. 92–111. London and New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chibalo, E. 1983. ‘Social Context and Literary Aspects of Muyabila Songs: a study of Kuyabila as performed by the Tonga of the Southern Province of Zambia’. M.A. dissertation in African literature, Lusaka: University of Zambia.Google Scholar
Chipunga, S. 1988. The State, Technology and Peasant Differentiation in Zambia: a case study of the Southern Province, 1930–86. Lusaka: Historical Association of Zambia.Google Scholar
Clark, S., Colson, E., Lee, J., and Scudder, T. 1995. ‘Ten thousand Tonga: a longitudinal anthropological study from southern Zambia, 1956–91’, Population Studies 49, 91–109.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cligget, L. 1997. My Mother's Keeper: changing family support systems for the elderly in the Gwembe Valley, Zambia. Ann Arbor MI: UMI Microform.Google Scholar
Cligget, L. 2000. ‘Social components of migration: experiences from Southern Province, Zambia’. Human Organization 59 (1), 125–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colson, E. 1958. Marriage and the Family among the Plateau Tonga of Northern Rhodesia. Manchester: Manchester University Press.Google Scholar
Colson, E. 1960 The Social Organisation of the Gwembe Tonga. Manchester: Manchester University Press.Google Scholar
Colson, E. 1966. ‘The alien diviner and local politics among the Tonga of Zambia’, in Swartz, M., Turner, V. and Tuden, A. (eds), Political Anthropology, pp. 221–8. Chicago IL: Aldine.Google Scholar
Colson, E. 1969. ‘Spirit possession among the Tonga of Zambia’, in Middleton, J. and Beattie, J. (eds), Spirit Mediumship and Society in Africa, pp. 69–103. London: Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Colson, E. 1970. ‘Converts and tradition: the impact of Christianity on Valley Tonga religion’, Southwestern Journal of Anthropology 26 (2), 143–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colson, E. 1972. The Social Consequences of Resettlement. Manchester: Manchester University Press.Google Scholar
Colson, E. 1999 ‘Gendering those uprooted by “development”’, in Indra, D. (ed.), Engendering Forced Migration, pp. 23–39. Oxford: Berghahn.Google Scholar
Colson, E., and Scudder, T. 1975. ‘New economic relationships between the Gwembe valley and the line of rail’, in Parkin, D. (ed.), Town and Country in Central and Eastern Africa, pp. 190–210. London: Oxford University Press for the International African Institute.Google Scholar
Colson, E. 1988. For Prayer and Profit: the ritual, economic, and social importance of beer in Gwembe District, Zambia, 1950–82. Stanford CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Comaroff, J., and Comaroff, J. 1993. ‘Introduction’ in Comaroff, J. and Comaroff, J. (eds), Modernity and its Malcontents: ritual and power in postcohnial Africa, pp. xi–xxxvi. Chicago IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Crehan, K. 1987. ‘Production, Reproduction and Gender in North-western Zambia: a case study’. Ph.D. dissertation, Manchester: Faculty of Economic and Social Studies, University of Manchester.Google Scholar
Crehan, K. 1997. The Fractured Community: landscapes of power and gender in rural Zambia. Berkeley CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Cunnison, I. 1959. The Luapula People of Northern Rhodesia. Manchester: Manchester University Press.Google Scholar
Dillon-Malone, C. 1988. ‘Mutumwa Nchimi healers and wizardry beliefs in Zambia’, Social Science and Medicine 26 (11), 1159–72.Google Scholar
Doke, C. M. 1931. The Lamba of Northern Rhodesia: a study of their customs and beliefs. London: Harrap.Google Scholar
Evans-Pritchard, E. E. 1937. Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic among the Azande. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Field, K. 1985. Revival and Rebellion in Colonial Central Africa. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Fisiy, C, and Geschiere, P. 1996. ‘Witchcraft, violence and identity: different trajectories in postcolonial Cameroon’ in Werbner, R. and Ranger, T. (eds), Postcolonial Identities in Africa, pp. 193–221. London: Zed Books.Google Scholar
Geschiere, P. 1997a. Review of J. Comaroff and J.Comaroff (eds), Modernity and its Malcontents, Journal of Religion in Africa 27 (2), 183–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Geschiere, P. 1997b. The Modernity of Witchcraft: politics and the occult in postcolonial Africa. Charlottesville VA and London: University of Virginia Press.Google Scholar
Gifford, P. 1998. African Christianity: its public role. Bloomington IN: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Hågård, E. 1997. The Issue of Intimate Relations at Chikankata Secondary School, Zambia. Stockholm: Department of Anthropology, University of Stockholm.Google Scholar
Himonga, C. 1995. Family and Succession Laws in Zambia: developments since independence, Beiträge zur Afrikaforschung 7, Bayreuth: University of Bayreuth.Google Scholar
Ipenburg, A. 1992. All good men': the development of Lubwa Mission, Chinsali, Zambia, 1905–67. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Keller, B. 1978. ‘Marriage and medicine: women’s search for love and luck', African Social Research 26, 489–505.Google Scholar
Kohn, A. 1994. ‘Speaking of the devil: antisemitic themes in contemporary psychotherapy’, California Anthropologist 21 (2), 23–33.Google Scholar
La Fontaine, J. 1998. Speak of the Devil: tales of satanic abuse in contemporary England. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leaver, K. 1960. ‘The “transformation of men to meat” story’, NADFORM Service Information Sheet 20. Salisbury: Information Services Branch, Native Affairs Department.Google Scholar
Luig, Ulrich. 1997. Conversion as a Social Process: a history of missionary Christianity among the Valley Tonga, Zambia. Hamburg: Lit Verlag.Google Scholar
Luig, Ute. 1999. ‘Constructing local worlds: spirit possession in the Gwembe valley, Zambia’ in Behrend, H. and Luig, U. (eds), Spirit Possession: modernity and power in Africa, pp. 124–41. Madison WI: University of Wisconsin Press.Google Scholar
Magesa, L. 1997. African Religion: the moral traditions of abundant life. Maryknoll OH: Orbis Books.Google Scholar
Marwick, M. 1950. ‘Another modern antiwitchcraft movement in East and Central Africa’, Africa 20 (1), 100–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marwick, M. 1965. Sorcery in its Social Settling: a study of the Northern Rhodesian Cewa. Manchester: Manchester University Press.Google Scholar
Marwick, M. 1967. ‘The sociology of sorcery in a Central African tribe’, in Middleton, J. (ed.), Magic, Witchcraft and Curing, New York: Natural History Press, pp. 101–33. First published in African Studies 22, 1 (1963),1–32.Google Scholar
Mbiti, J. 1990. African Religions and Philosophy. Second edition, Oxford: Heinemann.Google Scholar
Mogensen, H. 1995. Aids is a Kind of Kahungo that Kills. Oslo, Copenhagen, Stockholm and Boston MA: Scandinavian Universities Press.Google Scholar
Musambachime, M. 1988. ‘The impact of rumor: the case of the banyama (vampire men) scare in Northern Rhodesia, 1930–64’, International Journal of African Historical Studies 21 (2), 205–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ngulube, N. 1989. Some Aspects of Growing up in Zambia. Lusaka: Kenneth Kaunda Foundation.Google Scholar
Price, N. 1998. ‘Institutional determinants of fertility in Gwembe Tonga society’, Social Sciences in Health 4 (1), 25–41.Google Scholar
Reynolds, B. 1963. Magic, Divination and Witchcraft among the Barotse of Northern Rhodesia. London: Chatto & Windus.Google Scholar
Reynolds, P. 1991. Dance, Civet Cat: child labour in the Zambezi Valley. London: Zed Books.Google Scholar
Richards, A. 1935. ‘A modern movement of witch-finders’, Africa 8 (4), 448–61.Google Scholar
Richards, P. 1996. Fighting for the Rain Forest: war, youth and resources in Sierra Leone. Oxford: James Currey for the International African Institute.Google Scholar
Saasa, O., and Carlsson, J. 1996. The Aid Relationship in Zambia: a conflict scenario. Lusaka: Institute for African Studies.Google Scholar
Schmidt, E. 1992. Peasants, Traders, and Wives: Shona women in the history of Zimbabwe, 1870–1939. London: James Currey.Google Scholar
Schuthof, A., and Boerenkamp, M. 1991. Spirits and Survival: religion and crisis management within Tonga society, Zimbabwe. Utrecht: Inter-faculty Programme Society and Religion, University of Utrecht.Google Scholar
Scudder, T. 1962. The Ecology of the Gwembe Tonga. Manchester: Manchester University Press.Google Scholar
Scudder, T. 1983 ‘Economic downturn and community unravelling’, Culture and Agriculture 18, 16–19.Google Scholar
Scudder, T. 1984. ‘“Economic downturn and community unravelling” revisited’, Culture and Agriculture 23, 6–10.Google Scholar
Scudder, T., and Colson, E. 1977. ‘Long-term research in Gwembe Valley, Zambia’, in Foster, G. et al. (eds), Long-term Field Research in Social Anthropology, pp. 227–54. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Scudder, T. 1980. Secondary Education and the Formation of an Elite: the impact of education on Gwembe District, Zambia. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Skjønsberg, E. 1989. Change in an African Village: Kefa speaks. West Hartford CT: Kumarian Press.Google Scholar
Smith, E., and Dale, A. 1920. The Ila-speaking peoples of Northern Rhodesia. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Turner, V. 1957. Schism and Continuity in an African society: a study ofNdembu village life. Manchester: Manchester University Press.Google Scholar
Vickery, K. 1986. Black and White in Southern Zambia: the Tonga plateau economy and British imperialism, 1890–1939. New York: Greenwood Press.Google Scholar
Weinrich, A. 1977. The Tonga People on the Southern Shore of Lake Kariba. Gwelo: Mambo Press.Google Scholar
Werbner, R. 1996. ‘Introduction: multiple identities, plural arenas’, in Werbner, R. and Ranger, T., Postcolonial Identities in Africa, pp. 1–26. London: Zed Books.Google Scholar
White, L. 1993. ‘Vampire priests of central Africa’, Comparative Studies in Society and History 35(4), 746–72.Google Scholar
White, L. 1995. ‘Tsetse visions: narratives of blood and bugs in colonial Northern Zambia’, Journal of African History 36 (2), 219–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, L. 1997. ‘The traffic in heads’, Journal of Southern African Studies 23 (2), 325–38.Google Scholar
Wilson, M. 1951. Good Company: a study of Nyakyusa age-villages. London: Oxford University Press for the International African Institute.Google Scholar
Yamba, C. 1997. ‘Cosmologies in turmoil: witch finding and AIDS in Chiawa, Zambia’, Africa 67 (2), 200–23.Google Scholar